Calgary Expo 2013: Meeting Nathan Fillion!

So this past weekend was epically awesome for a ton of reasons, which lucky for you, I am about to describe in detail!

Reason 1: I went on a road trip with Husbie and my bestie and her man. You are the company you keep, and I love these people so much! We only had to drive 3 hours from Edmonton to Calgary (and then back home again a few days later) but it was a good test for the mega road trip that we are going on at the end of this month to Sasquatch music festival in Washington. That road trip will require 13 hours of driving patience each way and a mega music playlist that we’re already working on compiling! Any good ideas for road games to keep us from killing each other entertained?

Reason 2: We nerded out all weekend long at the Calgary Expo, also known as the Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo. Now you may be thinking “Whaaaat?! Nicole chose to go to a comic convention in Calgary for her birthday?!” – but let me assure you, I had ulterior motives. HINT: view Reason 4 of this list. Also, the title of this post is a dead giveaway.

The Expo was actually a lot of fun and about 75% of that fun was just people watching / staring in awe at all the elaborate costumes and going up to the people who created the costumes to find out A) what they were made of and B) how long it took them to make. Some people dedicated around 5 months or even a YEAR to make their costume, and we saw things made out of leather, tulle, rubber floor mats, styrofoam, yarn, cardboard, duct tape, LED lights, body paint – the list goes on. People are RESOURCEFUL! Check out some photos on the Calgary Expo Facebook page.

Reason 3: We had a delicious meal at Rush Restaurant on Saturday night to celebrate my birthday, Pimms and crème brûlée included! Our server was the best, they wrote “Happy Birthday” in chocolate on my plate, and I indulged in ricotta and spinach ravioli even though it definitely had cheese in it because a type of cheese was in its name. Also, I could taste that cheesy goodness along with brown butter sauce, bacon and pine nuts as soon as that sweet, sweet flavor hit my tongue – *wiping drool off of chin just thinking about it*. If you want to have your mind blown, go to this restaurant, order the crème brûlée and just wait until you get to the basil flavored one. Holy Batman in church at Christmas time, it was the most amazing thing I’ve experienced in a long time. It has confirmed my theory that I will eat and enjoy anything if it is put in crème brûlée form.

Reason 4: I’m pretty sure this should be Reason 1 because it’s the most epically awesome detail of them all. DID I MENTION THAT I MET NATHAN FILLION?! There were 700 people in line to take a picture with him, therefore our entire exchange lasted a mere 20 seconds. He introduced himself to us (uh, I know who you are Nathan!) and shook my hand (which has since been living in a plastic bag, unwashed), lined us up and told us to look at the camera. Now, we had discussed our potential poses quite thoroughly while waiting in line and Jenn and I decided to do “excited” faces which weren’t that hard since the emotion was rather authentic at the time, but we had no idea what Nathan Fillion was going to do. It wasn’t until we were herded through the line to the table to pick up our photo that we saw a sea of Nathan Fillion faces smiling up at us all professional and friendly-like. Smack dab in the middle of all the politeness was our photo, and what did Nathan Fillion do? BLUE STEEL!!! He totally gets us! He picked up on the vibe we were putting down and brought a little Blue Steel to the table! I think I fell a little more in love with the guy, if that was possible. Also, my face is ridiculous but that’s what happens when you’re standing beside your nerd crush. You get ridiculous and your face does things that your brain can’t control. I may or may not also be grabbing Nathan Fillion’s bum…

Just kidding! There was no bum grabbing involved. Sheesh, think I’d do that with my husband right beside me? C’mon, give me a bit more credit than that!

Reason 5: I hardly wore a jacket. Spring has been a cruel tease up here in Edmonton this year and the sunshine in Calgary was so lovely that I soaked up as much of it as I could. I actually even kind of burnt the back of my pasty-white neck. What’s a girl with a pixie cut to do? We spent a bit of time lounging on grass (prime costume viewing time) just chillaxing.

Reason 6: My bestie convinced my to go to a club called Commonwealth, and I danced my butt off to 90’s rap until my knees gave out because of all the walking around at the Expo. We let the boys go to a pub and watch the UFC fights, and us girls got our serious groove on. I was super skeptical at first because we showed up around 9:45 or 10:00pm and they were playing videos of dudes on skateboards, and people were just sitting on the floor watching. Like…what?! We grabbed a drink and waited for the good music to start and when it did, it didn’t stop. Every song was sooo good and prompted the typical “I LOVE THIS SONG!!” reaction that girls usually get at the club. The club itself had a most interesting and eclectic mix of people from all ages and stereotypes (although a slightly older crowd than you’d see in Edmonton clubs which was so very nice), along with a little exposed brick, taxidermy and other hipster ephemera to enhance the mood. In other words, I loved every minute of it, and I wish a club like that could survive in Edmonton. The stamp was even a little brown liquor bottle with three X’s!

Reason 7: We attended a few entertaining panels on Sunday. We sat in on the X-Files panel even though I’ve never seen the show (we were just getting some good seats), then we saw the Game of Thrones panel with Peter Dinklage and Lena Headey, and then the Nathan Fillion panel! We were going to stay for the Walking Dead panel but it was running late and around 3:30pm on Sunday all we wanted to do was hit the road for home.

Panel highlights for Game of Thrones: A fan girl telling Peter Dinklage how much she loved his various films including In Bruges, only to have Peter Dinklage remind her in front of a crowd of thousands of people that it wasn’t him in In Bruges (oops…wrong midget…).

*smacks palm to forehead*

A poorly phrased question for Lena Headey that basically asked her how she felt being a female actress over 40 and dealing with a lack of quality roles for aging actresses. Lena’s reply? “I heard 40 and then I stopped listening.”

*smacks palm to forehead again*

Panel highlights for Nathan Fillion: Realizing that Nathan Fillion is as big a fanboy of Joss Whedon as a lot of his own fans. He truly admires Whedon and admitted to not being able to say no, whatever the project. He confirmed that Dr. Horrible 2 is in the works but was put on hold because of a certain blockbuster movie that has something to do with a group of someones avenging something…

We also witnessed an interesting response to Nathan Fillion’s twitter request to fans to phrase their panel questions in a way that praised Nathan Fillion for a random act of kindness he had done for you. Example:

Me: “Hi, my name is Nicole Winski and I wanted to thank you so much for saving my grandmother from choking last week!”Nathan Fillion: “You’re welcome, those pesky pretzels can be so dry, how is your grandmother doing?”Me: “Great thanks! My question for you today is…”

A fan girl went up to the microphone and proceeded to tell Nathan Fillion about her own good deed that she had completed earlier in the day, waiting in line for a friend to pick something up. Nathan’s reply? “Good for you…”

*smacks palm to forehead and rolls eyes*

It was such a fun weekend that we’re thinking of making it an annual trip. Perhaps we will dress up next year? I’m considering Tank Girl or Starbuck (aka Kara Thrace)…